Natasha Lomas
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Waiting for Raspberry Pi: Eben Upton talks supply constraints and demand shock
Hardware hobbyists wanting to get their hands on some juicy single-board Raspberry Pi kit to power low-cost electronics projects have been having a frustrating time for more than a year now, as pandem
EU vote paves way for USB-C to be common device charger in 2024
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to back EU legislation that will standardize mobile chargers on USB Type-C — paving the way for the law to start being applied by the end of 2024
Europe gives final sign off to rebooted e-commerce rules
European Union lawmakers have given final approval to an online safety-focused overhaul of the bloc’s e-commerce rules — the first major update to the legal framework for digital services
UK pauses data reform bill to rethink how to replace GDPR
The U.K. government has confirmed another pause to draft digital legislation under new prime minister Liz Truss’ reshuffled cabinet — saying the data reform bill it had introduced in rece
Beats: Italian antitrust fine for Apple and Amazon cancelled on appeal
An antitrust win for Amazon and Apple in Italy, where an appeals court has cancelled a multimillion-dollar penalty the pair were hit with last year for alleged collusion following an investigation int
Deliveroo tweaks ‘dark store’ model to let grocery shoppers in the door
In the latest quick commerce headspinner, Deliveroo is experimenting with expanding its rapid grocery business by opening a new type of ‘dark store’ in Central London. As well as functioni
Social media a factor in death of UK schoolgirl, inquest finds
The inquest into the death of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, has concluded that social media was a factor in her demise, the BBC reports. The 14-year-old had viewed thousands of pieces of content
Fairphone adds fully refurbished handsets to its modular reuse mix
Away from the premium smartphone feature-utility hyperbole swirling around dynamic islands, mobile devices remain much of a muchness. But ethical mobile brand Fairphone has always done innovation diff
Meta urged to pay reparations for Facebook’s role in Rohingya genocide
Meta is facing a fresh call to pay reparations to the Rohingya people for Facebook’s role in inciting ethnic violence in Myanmar. A new report by Amnesty International — providing what it
‘Virtual ward’ startup Doccla gets Series A injection as it eyes AI tools
Doccla, a Sweden founded but London-headquartered health tech startup that sells a remote patient monitoring platform to hospitals to run so-called ‘virtual wards’, has closed a £15 milli
Bad robot: Europe plans product liability changes to make it easier to sue AIs
The European Union is to update product liability laws to tackle the risk of damage caused by artificial intelligence systems and address other liability issues arising from digital devices 
Meta reports takedowns of influence ops targeting US midterms, Ukraine war
Another bit of self-reporting from Meta today vis-a-vis internal efforts to identify and shut down political disinformation networks operating on its social platforms (aka “coordinated, inauthen
Italy fires Meta urgent request for info re: election interference measures
Days ahead of the Italian general election, the country’s privacy watchdog has sent Facebook’s parent (Meta) an urgent request for information, asking the social media giant to clarify mea
Glovo fined $78M for labor breaches in Spain
Spain’s homegrown on-demand delivery app, Glovo — which since the end of last year has been majority owned by Germany’s Delivery Hero — has been fined €79 million (~$79 milli
Limbo is tackling obesity with a pair of wearables and decades of physiology
In recent years there has been a flurry of startup activity aimed at commercializing blood glucose biosensors — aka, wearable tech that was originally developed for diabetes management. These co
Mozilla urges action to unpick platform browser lock-ins
As antitrust regulators around the world dial up scrutiny of platform power, Mozilla has published a piece of research digging into the at times subtle yet always insidious ways operating systems exer
TikTok takes aim at political grifting and fundraising in latest policy tweaks
TikTok has announced an incoming tightening of its policies around political accounts using its video-sharing platform, such as those belonging to political parties, politicians and governments. The c
Europe’s top court chalks up more strikes against bulk data retention
Yet more strikes against general and indiscriminate data retention in the EU: The bloc’s top court has issued a couple of rulings on joined cases today — one related to a German law on tel
Advisor to Europe’s top court backs antitrust watchdogs looking at privacy
A non-binding opinion issued today by an influential advisor to the Europe Union’s top court could foreshadow a major regional development at the intersection of privacy and competition regulati
UK to change Online Safety Bill limits on ‘legal but harmful’ content for adults
Changes are incoming to draft online safety legislation in the U.K. which continues to attract controversy over the impact on free speech. The draft Online Safety Bill has already been years in the ma